Library and educational organizations and groups

Kids Love Comics! - Kids Love Comics is a non-profit organization made up of comic creators, publishers, fans, educators and journalists, as well as those involved in the marketing, promotion, distribution, and retail end of the comic book medium.

Cataloging Graphic Novels

Challenges assistance and controversy

With the increase in adding graphic novels to library collections has come challenges to their inclusion in a library's collection. ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has heard reports of over a dozen challenges to graphic novels in the past few years. Although the process for responding to a challenge to graphic novels should be no different from the response for any printed media, the visual materials adds complexity.

From the Cooperative Children's Book Center Intellectual Freedom (IF) Information Services of the University of Wisconsin-Madison - Questions and Answers on Intellectual Freedom: What IF . . . Library: I am very concerned about starting to collect graphic novels. Just the phrase "graphic novel" makes some adults pale, and that’s before they've even cracked a cover. Once they look inside, I'm worried the violence in some might be off-putting as well. I know that many kids see worse on T.V., but I don’t know if our board, or even my colleagues, understands or will remember that when they look inside some of the ones I've seen. How can I defend selecting some of them for the library?

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the First Amendment rights of the comics art form and its community of retailers, creators, publishers, librarians, and readers. The CBLDF provides legal referrals, representation, advice, assistance, and education in furtherance of these goals.

VIDEO: My, Those Novels Certainly Are... Graphic!!! at the 2009 ALA Annual Conference on July 13, 2009 Posted Monday, August 24, 2009 12:04 PM -- Cartoons, comic books, and graphic novels have always been touchstones for controversy. In recent years, there have been some high profile cases of censorship of these materials in libraries and schools across the country. A panel of creators will discuss their works and censorship of comics and graphic novels. Co-sponsored by the Association of American Publishers and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Speakers: Neil Gaiman, Terry Moore, and Craig Thompson. Moderated by Charles Brownstein of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.